Have You Ever Been Without Your Purse or Wallet?… read the result…

About 2 weeks ago I had gone to a friends house where they, myself and my god daughters of course play Wii each time we get together.

That occasion however, something occurred that led me to a strong realization and a very different reality.

When I play Wii there, I of course take my wallet out of my pant pocket and place it on a shelving unit in their home. Normally, when I leave, I of course pick up my wallet and return it to my pocket. Well, two weeks ago, we played Wii, had a great time and I left.

The next day as I getting ready to meet a colleague for lunch I spent the better part of 20 minutes trying to find my wallet in my home. It turns out, I realized I had left it at my friends’ home – over an hour away.

And now we come to a harsh reality that you hopefully don’t create for yourself. I had no money in my home!… nada! I always typically either rely on cash in wallet or on my debt or credit cards. Has this ever happened for you? Is any of this sounding familiar?

Realizing that my debt cards, cash, and credit cards were at my friends, it was a Saturday morning, I was already late for my lunch meeting… AND my friends were going to be away the next day, I scrounged and found some ones and toonies… hopefully what would be enough for lunch. I also spoke with my friends and arranged to go later that afternoon to their home after my meeting to pick up my wallet.

So far so good… then… the weather took a turn and we had a blizzard. There was no way I would have made it to my friends in less than 3 hours with the way the weather and traffic was so I put it off to the next day. Fortunately we were able to make arrangements, I picked up my wallet and everything was good again in my world… except…

I had a profound shift in thinking…

You see we all assume that everything is fine… if we need money, we use our debt cards or credit cards, we assume the sun will come up each day, there will be water flowing out of our taps, electricity to run our homes, computers, the internet, gas flowing to our cars whenever we go to the gas station, and medical help anytime we truly will need it.

This one seemingly small experience opened me up to a new way of thinking and is one that I hope alters how we look at our day-to-day activities.

Let’s take a short trip down memory lane… In 2003, if you lived still live in the eastern portion of North America, we had a major power surge that knocked out power for over 55 MILLION people in Ontario and eight U.S. states. It was summer, which also meant that if you lived in a tall building, there would be only backup generator power for elevators. At the time, most plug in radios did not work so many people were speculating that it was a terrorist attack and we were instantly cut off from the world in a massive way! Remember… that was almost 8 years ago… meaning we now rely much more heavily on technology and electricity than we did then. Also, in Toronto, Canada, we now have many many more buildings than we did then.

Some areas lost water pressure because water pumps had no power and therefore people had no water – which even further led to the potential contamination of the water supply in parts of the United States. A boil water advisory went out… but could only really be used by people who actually had electricity. Trains running into and out of New York were shut down. I remember the rail system in Toronto ceased. Air Canada flights were grounded. Oil refineries shut down and as such were slow to resume gasoline production. And here is likely the one factor that people don’t consider… cellular communications were disabled… and you couldn’t recharge your cell even if you wanted to. Traffic lights, were knocked out and pedestrians became traffic directors because there are obviously not enough police officers to direct at every single major intersection in large cities like New York and Toronto. It took four days for full power to be restored and even then we were asked to minimize consumption.

When I forgot my wallet at my friend’s home and realized I had no available cash on hand, I realized much more than the simple and fairly logical (duuuhhh!) thought to carry some cash at home… I realized I had no flash light, no batteries, no extra food, no extra water, no supplies, no blankets, no…. etc, etc.

I mention all of this, and my intent is not to come across as an alarmist. but all we have to do is look at areas of the world that have become largely inaccessible due to earthquakes such as Haiti and Chili, or look at areas that have been affected by severe weather patterns to the same degree that New Orleans had after hurricane Katrina.

In my work as a life coach and someone who lives from the truth of synchronicity, law of attraction, intuition etc, lately, I have also been feeling this inkling that now is a signicant time to prepare… not to act out of fear, but simply to prepare. Ideally we would all plan to have backups of supplies just in case the weather goes like it has here in Ontario dumping huge amounts of snow that we haven’t seen in years.

I also recently moved out of the city and therefore what once took 3 minutes to drive to a major highway, now takes a good 15 and for that matter about 5 minutes by car (about 30 minutes walking) to get to a simple variety store!

Scientists for the past 5 years have been discussing the possibility of massive coronal ejections from the sun that if occur would be the strongest in over a century and would knock out everything that is electrical. Now I don’t know any of those scientists, so perhaps the media or government is making them up, but I realize it would be wise to prepare for these types of emergencies just in case. What would you do if all-of-a-sudden there was no electricity?

Back in 2003, I remember seeing the night sky and stars for the first time from the street from different parts of Toronto. I was living on the oldest street in Toronto that had huge trees that also covered the entire road so had to use my cell phone light just to make it to the house I was living in. People were on their porches, playing guitar high fiving each other, and it was actually an experience that many were able to make the most of. But that only lasted for 2-4 days. What if that occurred for a week or a month?

Here is another thought… Last year in 2010 we had the G20 event take place in Toronto. I remember the week before after they had installed the fencing throughout the centre of the core of downtown and had begun to close just one of the major entryways to the downtown. I had a bit of a surreal experience – I was driving in for a gathering and what normally took me 30 minutes took 2 hours to get to. I remember sitting in my car, windows rolled down, literally stopped and hadn’t moved in 5 minutes, people parked and thinking… this is what we see in movies when there is a max exodus out of a city.

I realized at that time, it would be important to have some extra items in my car such as a flashlight if it were night time, some extra water or food etc. And most importantly some extra patience!!!

What if, though, that had been the winter?… similar to what made headline CNN news just about 2 months ago when the Canadian military rescued 300 people from their cars along the 402 highway due to the winter storm that brought over 5 feet of snow in a 48 hour period. In case you missed it approximately 360 vehicles had been stranded, some people had been in their cars for over 25 hours before being rescued and having not eaten in that time and likely not having had any water on hand. I am sure if it had been me I would have likely got out of my car and begun to form groups of people to rescue each other and pool our resources. Some people though, may not have done that and instead might assume that they were going to be rescued at some point before they became so dehydrated that they couldn’t move.

My intent for this post is to bring to our consciousness that we need to become more aware and prepare. If nothing occurs and we never experience a knock out solar eclipse, another hurricane like Katrina, no more power outages, no lack of food and supplies, then at least we were prepared and can sit back and enjoy all that we have saved.

Something though, tells me that either way it is a good idea to have some supplies that will last a good three months.

If you have read this far, and don’t think I have lost it, then now would be a good time to begin to research and at least purchase the basics.

I will be posting future blogs on this topic that will contain the top sites I have found, some excellent check lists for preparation and essentially… the essentials.

Do leave a comment below if you have felt similar sensations or a ‘calling’ to prepare. Do also list any links you may have to items that will helpful.

In my opinion, the preparation far outweighs the expense and possibility.

I hope this blog has given you some food for thought… never leave your purse or wallet at your friend’s home after playing Wii! :))

Here is a beginner checklist with more to come:

-cash in bills of 20s and less up to about 300.00 per family member – this is a general number – you decide how much you would like to have on hand per family member
-extra blankets
-a ton of extra toilet paper – this would be one of the least thought of and most important items to have… imagine running out of toilet paper and all of it is gone from the grocery stores! Yikes!
-3 flashlights – and at least one for each member of your family
-5 sets of extra batteries in all sizes per person and per flashlight
-bottled water stored preferrably in glass
-bees wax candles
-boxes of matches
-backup generator if you own or rent a home
-extra gasoline if you have safe storage and can gain permits for this – research this before doing this!
-protein – this would be the most important nutrient you can have – ideally find some excellent protein bars that you like and stock up on 5 boxes – use them before the expiry and rotate with new ones as the expiry nears
-cans of tuna
-freeze dried food
-dehydrated food
-silver and gold in coins not bars
-solar panel backup charges to charge cell phones, car motors etc.
-if you are having a house built and have to choose between gas or naturaly fire place… go with at least one being a natural fireplace
-fire wood
-shovel in your car for your car
-all of your documents in one place – passport, health card etc for quick access
-vitamin D in the liquid form – preferrably spray or drops
-a very good high quality multi-vitamin and multi-mineral
-backup your computer(s)
-paper notebook
-deck of cards